The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

After months of build-up, News Corp.will unveil The Daily, its iPad-based news product, tomorrow morning at Manhattan's Guggenheim museum, in front of an audience filled with dozens of reporters. None of those reporters will be reporting for Gawker Media sites, however; the blog network has apparently been banned. Numerous requests by writers from Gizmodo and Gawker to get on the guest list were met with shrugs from Rubenstein, the PR firm handling the event.

Who's behind the blackballing? Presumably it's either News Corp. or Apple, which is co-hosting the event. (Steve Jobs was originally supposed to appear onstage with Rupert Murdoch, but Eddy Cue, Apple's head of internet services, had to fill in after Jobs went on medical leave.) Gawker boss Nick Denton doesn't think it's the former. "We haven't been kind to The Daily -- but I don't think News Corp quite that thin-skinned," he says. (In fact, there's seems to be some admiration there: The Daily has tried to hire half a dozen or so Gawker writers for its 100-person editorial team.)